Delta Chi Chapter at the Spring 2008 Formal

Delta Chi Chapter (Founded 3 December 2001) is located at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. The Chapter was founded with the help of Hoyt Craver, Director of Expansion, and Rich Freed, Chapter Advisor and Theta Chapter Alumnus, Alpha Eta Chapter Founder. Delta Chi is a member of the East Region.

Chapter History

2001

Founding

After the discovery of an Alpha Eta, University of Delaware, alumni working in the Career Services Department of Lehigh University, Phi Sigma Pi Nationals decided to give those students with a 3.0 GPA or higher the opportunity to start a Lehigh University chapter of Phi Sigma Pi. Invites to an information session were sent out to these students on October 5, 2001. Of the hundreds of students who received these letters, some attended the first ever Lehigh University Phi Sigma Pi meet night held on Monday October 15, run by Nationals and Richard Freed, the Alpha Eta alumni who initiated the entire endeavor. Due to the interest generated, the staff arranged an organizational meeting for the next Monday, October 22. Many attended this meeting, including the National President, Tammy A. Mleziva.

Determined to begin this chapter, the group elected student officers for the chapter: Cheryl Foster, President; Justin Federici, Vice President; Stella Maher, Recording Secretary; Pamela Passerello, Corresponding Secretary; Martin Uteras, Treasurer; Sara Ferris, Rush Advisor; Kristin Matchica, Initiate Advisor; Amy Gilbreth, Parliamentarian; and Marika Deppmeyer, Historian. The next week, the budding chapter officially motioned in Richard Freed as their adviser and requested that Alpha Eta, of University of Delaware, be their sister chapter, officially beginning the process.

Stella Maher and Alex Schwendeman receiving the Delta Chi Charter at National Convention 2002.

Representatives of new chapters at National Convention 2002.

Service, Social, Scholarship and Exams

As they worked to become a chapter of Phi Sigma Pi, the group was named the Alpha class at Lehigh’s chapter and therefore needed to complete several requirements of the Phi Sigma Pi Tripod of Service, Social, and Scholarship; and the Delta Chi Chapter of Lehigh University was well on their way to doing that in November 2001. The first Monday of the month the chapter held a canned food drive and a pizza party before their official meeting, completing their requirements for service and social. At this same meeting, new bylaws and operating policies for the chapter were rising, as the chapter instilled policy that disciplinary action would be taken after three unexcused absences.

With all the fun of other activities, another requirement loomed amidst the group, the National Exam. In order to become a brother of Phi Sigma Pi, students must pass the National Exam, an exam testing the students knowledge about Phi Sigma Pi values, history, and present. To prepare for this exam in two weeks, the students involved took one quiz with questions similar to those on the exam on November 5, and then two more on November 12.

The exam date was set for November 26, but before that day, their fundraising and scholarship requirements still had to be completed. Fundraising was fulfilled with the producing and selling of Alpha class Phi Sigma Pi t-shirts, made for less than five dollars and sold at ten dollars to yield a profit and effectively fundraise for the chapter. In addition, candy canes would be sold from December 3-5. These shirts were completed and sold on November 19, the same day that the scholarship event was completed. Richard Freed, the chapter’s advisor, came to the chapter as a Career Services Speaker, and educated the group about topics such as resumes, job hunting, and interviewing. By the end of this chapter meeting, the class achieved the completion of all the requirements, except for the test the next week. In order to take the pressure off the test, a holiday party was planned for after the exam. That next Monday, November 26, 2001, the Alpha class of the Delta Chi Chapter of Phi Sigma Pi took the National Exam, and they all passed with over 80%. With this success, Alpha Eta Chapter inducted 36 brothers into the Delta Chi Chapter on December 3, 2003, the founding day of the Delta Chi Chapter of Phi Sigma Pi, at Lehigh University.

The first executive board consisted of Cheryl Foster, President; Justin Federici, Vice President; Stella Maher, Recording Secretary; Pamela Passarello, Corresponding Secretary; Martin Uteras, Treasurer; Sara Ferris, Rush Advisor; Kristin Matchica, Initiate Advisor; Amy Gilbreth, Parliamentarian; and Marika Deppmeyer, Historian.

2002

Delta Chi Graduates Many Brothers and Gets a New Exec Board

The spring semester of 2002 came to a close at the end of April, and the Delta Chi Chapter of Phi Sigma Pi properly completed the semester with officer votes and awards. On April 22, the chapter gave Cheryl Foster, the founding president of the Delta Chi Chapter, the Most Valuable Brother Award and the following week they presented her with flowers for her hard work and dedication. All of the members of the E-Board, and honorary brother and faculty advisor Richard Freed also received gifts for their hard work as well. At this time, the old officers transitioned into the new officers: Justin Federici, President; Stella Maher, Vice President; Kevin Shephard, Corresponding Secretary; Katie Bex, Recording Secretary; Kristin Matchica, Treasurer; Rachel Zief, Rush Advisor; James Pontius, Initiate Advisor; Pam Passerello, Parliamentarian; Suzanne Ennis, Historian.

Although only one semester old, the chapter graduated 13 brothers at the end of this semester, and so it was a time filled with both the joy of becoming a real chapter, and the sadness of loosing so many brothers so soon.

Summer 2002 and Stella Maher

Grand Chapter, the gathering of representatives of all Phi Sigma Pi chapters convenes during the summer each year to discuss National business. In 2002, the chapters met in Tennessee for the weekend of July 19-22. Because of location difficulties, Justin Federici, the President of the Delta Chi Chapter requested that Stella Maher attend the gathering because of her nearby location in North Carolina. At this Grand Chapter, Stella Maher witnessed and realized what Phi Sigma Pi was really about. After this epiphany, Maher left Grand Chapter wanting to make the Delta Chi Chapter representative of Phi Sigma Pi and all of its other chapters. When Stella threw a house party at her home in North Carolina, she invited Phi Sigma Pi brothers from across the nation, and her thoughts and feelings about the situation were verified. The crusade to improve the Delta Chi Chapter began. On July 26, the Delta Chi executive board met online to discuss the chapters next semester. Exploding with enthusiasm, Maher requested money for the purchase of a Phi Sigma Pi banner for the chapter. With the request granted, Maher ordered the banner on August 7. In addition, Maher wrote the chapter’s bylaws and operating policy, and so began the enactment of her vision for the Delta Chi Chapter of Phi Sigma Pi.

Exec Board Shrivels

Early in the fall semester the chapter lost their Corresponding Secretary, Recording Secretary, Treasurer, Initiate Advisor and Parliamentarian due to a variety of circumstances.

As a result of half of the executive board of the Delta Chi Chapter leaving, elections were held on September 2, 2002. Before the elections on this day, Stella Maher motioned to amend the Chapter Bylaws and combine the positions of Recording and Corresponding Secretary into on position of Secretary. The amendment passed. With this new amendment, only four positions had to be filled. Elections yielded Jeff Samuels as Secretary, Samuel Wallace as Treasurer, Mark Elloff as Initiate Advisor, and Suzanne Ennis as Parliamentarian.

Rush Pins 40 Future Brothers

Despite the recent problems with the executive board, the chapter started the semester with a scholarship event on the same day that the chapter instated the new officers. Guest speaker’s came from other chapters to speak about Phi Sigma Pi and the tripod and suggestions for strengthening the chapter. Within the next weeks, several social events were also planned and attended by brothers: bowling and a horror movie night.

Amidst the events, rush info sessions were held on September 16-18 and the first event was held on September 20, 2002: a very successful and well attended rush BBQ at a brother’s off campus home. Those rushing also participated in creating cards for sick children at St. Luke’s Hospital. For the final rush event, brother’s learned about those rushing through information sheets, conversation, and a canned food drive, held in the Ulrich Student Center on September 26 2002.

At the meeting on September 30, the brothers voted to pin all of the rushes. The Gamma Class were then pinned on October 1, 2002.

2003

New Semester, New Class

With the Gamma class now in the brotherhood, they are becoming active in every area. Two Gammas served on the Executive Board the spring of 2003, and Mark Elloff took on Daryn Reyman as the initiation co-chair, in order to train her for a possible position the next semester, as everyone else received their committee assignments at the first meeting of the semester, January 13, 2003.

Despite continued tensions from probation, the chapter was able to hold a canned food drive on February 3, 2003, and fundraised by selling Valentine Grams on February 10-12. Fundraising Chair Deana Willard also began an ongoing fundraiser in which the brothers would put money into cups that each had a different executive’s name on it. Little did the Executive Board know, but the person who received the most money would be creamed with a pie at the last meeting of the semester. Although the pie event never happened.

The first scholarship event was held nearly a month later, when some Brothers supported Brothers Jessica Maurer and Sarah Shelley who showed their work at an Architecture Exposition on March 4, 2003. Soon after, on March 18, the brotherhood attended the Mr. Lehigh contest as a social event and in the same week for another social event, they went to the local bar for happy hour and appetizers on March 20. March 26, the Progressive Student Alliance sponsored a Global Symposium that discussed the environment, human rights, and University issues, and with the attendance of several Brothers, this became another scholarship event. In addition, another canned food drive worked as another service event on March 31.

Tripod, the national meeting of brothers to discuss and workshop on the three legs of the Fraternity took place in Philadelphia, and Brother Stella Maher, and initiate Kai Schlingmann attended and represented the Delta Chi Chapter at Lehigh. From this experience they returned, and had much new knowledge and ideas for the chapter to work with to enhance the Delta Chi’s tripod.

Rush, Initiate, Induct

Rush for the Delta Class began on February 3 with an information session, followed by two more on the 4th and 5th. In order to meet and get to know the rushes better, a meet lunch was held on February 6th from 11-1pm. A rush service event was held at the local retirement complex at which rushes and brothers mingled with the residents.

Preferred voting for the initiates was held over email on February 10 because of a snow storm that closed all academic buildings. Although a decidedly bad idea, it still occurred in order to complete preferred voting. In the future the Chapter's governing documents were amended to prevent events like this from happening.

Although preferred voting occurred, no additional events were held in between then and the day the rushes were voted in to be initiates, on February 24. An initiate policy was voted in as only 25% of the chapter’s numbers could be initiated. This was to avoid such a large group as the Gammas which prevented much intimacy within the class. On February 24, 21 rushes were initiated.

The initiates worked with Stella Maher and Mark Elloff in their own initiate meetings in order to earn their brotherhood. The Delta class fundraised for the chapter by making absolute brotherhood t-shirts that they then sold to themselves and the rest of the chapter at a profit of five dollars a shirt. To complete their other events they had a social event at one of the initiate’s houses, they saw the play Fire in the Basement at Zoellner, and to complete their service event they had a canned food drive.

On April 24, 2003, the chapter voted in the Delta class with the exception of one initiate. Induction followed on Tuesday April 15, 2003.

Bylaws Suspended

To provide for a longer transition process for the new members voted onto the Executive Board, voting would be done on April 7, 2003. Nominations were taken on March 31 and on April 7. On the day of voting, it was decided that the initiates, who had yet to be inducted or voted upon, could nominate themselves, run for a position, and vote on those who were running for the positions. The Chapter Bylaws, forbid such action, and so a motion was made and passed for the Bylaws to be suspended during this time of voting.

As the votes came the results concluded the following positions: Jeff Samuels, President; Jess Maurer, Vice President; Angela Rizzo, Treasurer; Michael Sullivan, Rush Advisor; Stella Maher, Initiate Advisor; Rachel Mandeville, Historian; and Kevin Schaefer, Parliamentarian.

After the elections were completed, Ryan Marquiss was once again elected as the Alumni Advisor for the chapter, and during this vote it came to the attention of the current executive board that the ballot box had been stuffed for the vote for presidency. Ten more votes were counted than there were Brothers and initiates at the meeting.

Stella Maher, one of the candidates for the presidency discussed the stuffing of the ballot box with Brothers at other chapters in order to decide how to deal with the situation. She concluded that she would have to go to the chapter.

At the next chapter meeting, on April 14, the docket was already filled with the voting on initiates, and so when Maher brought up the situation regarding the ballot box stuffing, she was met with hostility. In order to amend the situation, all of the elections, not just the one for president would have to be redone, and the chapter did not want to do that, as they showed in a vote when Maher motioned for such action, and so the election stood as occurred on April 7.

The year ended on a high note with a new executive board that had a retreat on May 15 to discuss the next semester. Most importantly and exciting was the official release of the Delta Chi Chapter from probation on April 25, 2003.

Fundraising Goes Wild

Fundraising for the fall semester of 2003 started off strong with a bookstore tent at a football game on September 13, then continued with another tent at the September 27 football game, and then again at the November 1, Parent’s Weekend, football game.

Halloween Grams were sold once again from October 27-29, and then delivered to the students’ mailboxes. At this time, Deana Willard, the fundraising chair, stepped down from her position to focus on school work and track, and so Andrea Luebbe filled her spot. As fundraising chair, Luebbe ran the buying, organizing, and selling of Lehigh-Lafayette t-shirts. This fundraiser involved selling t-shirts that showed that Lehigh is better than their arch-rival Lafayette. These t-shirt sales gained over $600 for the chapter, making it the one most successful fundraising event seen by the chapter.

Epsilon Class Does it Right

After participating in a comprehensive and well done rush process, the Epsilon Class was initiated and started the pledging process. This process consisted of weekly meetings run by Initiate Advisor Stella Maher, completing an event for each part of the tripod, interviewing ten brothers, and passing the national exam. During these meetings the pledges learned about the national and chapter history of Phi Sigma Pi through power point slides prepared by Stella.

Their first project was to take pictures with all ten mules in Bethlehem and all groups completed it on time, but this amount of work and effort was too much for two of the initiates, who soon dropped out of the process.

Craig Foo, Allison Zimmerman, and Nick Moukhine posing with one of Bethlehem's mules.

The Big-Little process and bond is an important part of pledging for any fraternity, and to make this aspect stronger in the Delta Chi Chapter, Maher organized an icebreaker event at which potential bigs and littles could get to know one another on September 25. After this event, each would choose who they would like to partner with. Once assigned littles, the pairs were able to get to know one another better through interviews. Their knowledge of one another would be tested at the Big-Little Quiz show held on October 23. Big Rachel Mandeville and her Little Yos Priestly won the game at this event.

At the second initiate meeting on October 7, elections were held as they are held in the chapter meetings, for the initiate officers: Katie Rikkola, Gamma Class President; Lauren Halgash, Secretary; Matt Griffiths, Treasurer; Suzanne Whitten and Craig Foo, Co-Historians. In preparation for brotherhood, Maher divided the initiates into committees, which would then plan the specific events that had to be completed. Committees were also formed to plan the events that the pledges had to complete to become brothers.

For their service event, the pledges went to the Boys and Girls Club again to play with the kids on November 4. As a scholarship event, as a class they saw the play Picasso at Lapin Agile on October 30 which was playing at Zoellner Arts Center. The fundraising committee sold class t-shirts as all initiate classes do, but with the help of Treasurer Matt Griffiths, the class obtained Play Station 2 games, an X-Box with games, and a computer game pack all free of charge. They raffled off these items and raised over $150 for the chapter. The class also went on a initiate class retreat on October 25 to Sayre Lodge where they were able to complete interviews with one another and bond as an initiate class should. On October 27, the chapter did a midway vote on the initiates, and all of them were voted to continue the pledging process.

The National Exam approached the group quickly, and as a study tool for the exam, the chapter’s scholarship committee and Maher organized Brothers vs. Initiates Jeopardy on November 10, and all of the questions would be related to those on the exam. Despite the fact that the Brothers had much less schooling in than the Epsilon, the Brothers won Jeopardy.

First Ever Brotherhood Retreat

A retreat had been in the works for the previous semester, but due to lack of interest and funds, the event did not go through. With the help of Vice President Jessica Maurer, the retreat this semester happened, and it became a camping trip.

Brothers bonding around the campfire.

October 17, 2003, the twelve people brave enough to go camping left Lehigh at half past four to head towards the campgrounds in the Poconos. When they arrived, the ground was damp and it was becoming dark. Immediately all of the brothers took a task and some began to set up the tents, while others collected dry wood and leaves and started the fire, while others prepared the food for dinner.

Although difficult to start because of the rain, the camp fire was soon built with the help of lighter fluid, and stories and laughs were shared all around such as now inside jokes as the “Ass Link” and the “Chapter Pyro”. Soon President Jeff Samuels decided that he needed to become more rustic than before and attempted to make the fire as large as possible. Others, such as Secretary Kai Schlingmann were not far behind.

As everyone grew tired, slowly they went to sleep in the tents they put up themselves. They awoke early and decided that one night of camping in the cold was enough, and so they quickly packed up and went to breakfast with brothers who did not come camping at the local Perkins.

Brothers eating at Perkins after the first Brotherhood retreat.

First Annual Semi-Formal

At the request of several brothers, a semi-formal was planned for the fall 2003 semester for the brothers of Delta Chi. From the beginning of the semester, Historian Rachel Mandeville searched for venues at which to have the semi-formal. She quickly discovered Carmine’s, a small Italian restaurant with a banquet room and a dance floor. With the right price and the right room size, the place was quickly booked for Thursday November 6, 2003. The semi-formal was huge a success. Centerpieces of live fish in vases awed the crowd and were given out at the end of the night. Many of the Brothers attended and had a fantastic time dancing and eating.

Scholarship and Service Hold a Record Number of Events

In addition to the rush events that involved service, the service committee chair, Jackie Lanzon, dedicated to her job, offered many service opportunities throughout the semester. The Boys and Girls Club was revisited several times including November 4, 2003 with the initiates, and the chapter participated in Spooktacular. Spooktacular involves the local area children coming to Lehigh and going through the University Center in costume, getting their faces painted and playing games, and then going to some of the residence halls to go trick or treating. Delta Chi had the face painting station. In addition, the chapter collected and donated over $100 to Turning Point, a women’s shelter in Allentown, who was in much need of money this semester. The final service event of the semester consisted of making cards for sick children at the local hospital in order to help them get better.

The first scholarship event, which doubled as a risk management event, was held on October 6, 2003 right before the Chapter meeting, and at it SexPerts, one of whom was brother Reid Gronostajski, educated the chapter on safe sex. Games were played and free condoms and dental dams were given out. A successful and informative event proved to be a lot of fun.

The scholarship committee also sponsored a Career Services event at which Faculty Advisor Richard Freed came to the chapter on October 27 and answered questions of the chapter about resumes and interviews and getting jobs, internships, and externships. And of course, the next month, the Scholarship committee helped organize the Brothers vs. Initiates Jeopardy. These usually weaker aspects of the Tripod for the chapter saw great strength in the fall semester 2003.

First Founder's Day Potluck Dinner

On December 3, 2003 the chapter celebrated its founder's day with a potluck dinner. Brothers formed small groups and prepared food to share. The Brothers like the idea so much it has continued to be part of the Founder's Day tradition.

A Successful Semester Closes with a New Faculty Adviser

Richard Freed informed the Delta Chi Chapter that he could no longer serve as their faculty adviser after the fall semester of 2003 because of previous commitments, and so the search began for a new faculty advisor. An ad-hoc adviser search committee was formed and headed by Daryn Reyman. Reyman found several potential candidates, but due to illness, soon had to turn the committee over to AJ Miceli, who interviewed several candidates and found the best person for the job in Professor David Small. Small was invited for a chapter interview, at which he could also ask the chapter questions. Voted on by the chapter at the meeting following the interview, Professor Small was voted to be the new faculty adviser for Phi Sigma Pi on December 1, 2003 and he soon after accepted the position. Another position filled at the end of the semester was that of Rush Advisor for the spring semester. Michael Sullivan would be going abroad to London along with several other Delta Chi Brothers, and so his position needed to be filled. Several brothers ran for the position, and the votes showed that Laura Spessard earned the spot on November 10, 2003.

After 97 motions, a record number of social, service, scholarship, and fundraising events, the election of a new rush advisor, and the election of a new faculty adviser, the Delta Chi Chapter saw great improvements over the previous semesters.

2004

New and Improved Rush

Brothers and Rushes at the local union bowling alley.

With new rush advisor Laura Spessard leading the way, the spring 2004 rush went without too many problems. The process began with three rush info sessions. One of the strongest aspects of the info sessions was the slide shows, which the potential rushes could view while waiting for the session to begin. In addition, Laura Spessard decided to have strong public speakers present the information to the potential rushes, even if that wasn’t the president. This would also improve the presentation.

Rachel Flink, a member of the Rush & Initiation committee put the slide show together with pictures from the previous semester. A previous problem, which the slide show solved, was that the fraternity was not put in a fun light when discussed at the rush info sessions, and so by showing pictures of how much fun PSP is, it encourages people to rush because they see how much fun it will be.

Rush events started smoothly with the making of cards for sick children. Everyone showed their eagerness to draw cards to be delivered to the children at St. Luke’s Hospital. Because Laura held the event in the UC, the food had to be bought from Wood Dining Services, and so everyone enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate while making their cards. Although not the most exciting of events, Cookies and Cards allowed for everyone to sit and talk to one another, and it ended up being one of the strongest events. The following night, Friday January 30 2004, many rushes and brothers attended broomball. A very fun and exciting event, not many people got to know one another too well, but it showed that Phi Sigma Pi can have fun as well as do service and scholarship events. In order to add in a more social aspect to the event, Treasurer Angela Rizzo recommended getting pizza afterwards so that everyone could eat and mingle. Most rushes stayed and ate. To take advantage of everyone being there, the E-Board tried to arrange some game playing, such as four corners, but with a twist so that information could be learned about one another, such as go to a certain corner depending on where you are from.

Taking a break, pref events did not continue until Friday, February 6, on which day the rushes and brothers were supposed to go to the local Boys & Girls Club, which is a favorite event of the chapter. Unfortunately, weather reared its ugly head, and there was another snowfall the previous day, closing the local schools, and when the schools close, the children do not go to the Boys & Girls Club afterwards, and so an alternative event had to be offered. The E-Board brainstormed all afternoon to come up with a competitive group activity, which was recently done in one of their sociology classes, building with straws and paper clips. The judging would be based on height, strength, and creativity. Everyone arrived and was told of the situation. The competition began, and the observers and brother group members were able to see how the rushes worked in groups, a needed quality because of the committee work required in the chapter. After all the work done by the groups it was decided that everyone won, and the reward was juice and cookies provided by the chapter. Once again, everyone mingled and continued to get to know one another.

The final rush event convened at a local union bowling alley with inexpensive games because of the subsidization from the union. Brothers paid only $1 per game, which included shoes, and the rushes were covered by the chapter. The small size of the alley contributed to the environment that allowed for people to talk and bowl at the same time. Every lane had a great time, and a couple of closet bowlers came out to show off their stuff. Everyone only played two games, and so the night ended in a couple of hours. Brothers enjoyed the event so much, that social committee chair Lauren Halgash made another bowling event later in the semester on March 20 2004, with the same prices and the same fun.

Second Brotherhood Retreat

Brothers bonding at the second Delta Chi Chapter retreat.

The second semi-annual Brother’s Retreat was held on the weekend of February 20, 2004 in Cherry Hill, NJ at a penthouse in a hotel. Last semester brothers retreated to a camping ground in Pennsylvania where they set up tents, built a fire, ate, and talked. Although the Brothers did not have to endure physical activities, they got to know each other nonetheless. Four cars transported the 12 brothers to the penthouse allowing a get to know each other car ride to begin the experience. Once settled in the brothers ate, played ice breaker games, card games, and board games (including Twister).

Several brothers sat up late into the night talking to one another. Breakfast was provided by the chapter, and so brothers woke up to bagels, donuts, juice, and coffee. That morning everyone left, and although only 12 brothers attended the retreat, those brothers left knowing more about each other than before, some forming great friendships, and ultimately achieving the goal of the retreat.

Better Big/Little Pairings

A very important part of the pledge process is for the initiate to receive a big who helps them adapt to and learn about the chapter, and to be there for the initiate for any help needed. Unfortunately, the Big-Little pairs of previous semesters have not always been the best matching, and so a new process was developed for the spring 2004 semester. Initiate Advisor Stella Maher, with the help of her committee, devised two new events that would help the Bigs and Littles get to know one another so that they can choose people that they can become friends with, which is the ideal situation for a big-little pair.

The first event took place on Sunday February 15 2004. In one of the rooms in the UC, a circle of chairs was organized, and all of the potential Bigs and Littles played Phi Sigma Pi’s favorite game Never-Have-I-Ever. During this game, a person stands in the middle and says something that they had never done. Then, in this version all of the people who had done it would have to get up and try to find an empty chair. The person left without a chair had to do the next “Never-Have-I-Ever”.

Next, everyone picked a Starburst candy out of a bag, and depending on the color of the candy one received they would have to tell something about themselves, such as most embarrassing moment, favorite Lehigh moment, and other such facts. In the end the games worked very well and everyone left knowing more than before they came.

This event was followed up the next weekend when a session of “speed-dating” took place in the UC on February 22 2004. First all of the Brothers removed one of their shoes and made a pile. Each initiate picked up a shoe and sat across from the person to whom the shoe belonged. This started the speed-dating. Every three minutes the initiates would switch places and would go through and speak to each Brother for three minutes. This method succeeded in allowing each potential big to talk to all of the initiates and vice versa.

Habitat for Humanity

Brothers and Zeta class initiates participating in a local Habit for Humanity project.

On March 27 2004, twenty- four Brothers and initiates, including some inactive brothers, woke up early to meet in Campus Square D. The job consisted of rebuilding an old distribution center into their new main office. Some people cut drywall and put up insulation for the office part of the building. Others put together shelves and put away building materials in the warehouse part. Still others dug a ditch, in which a new wheelchair accessible ramp would go.

Ad hoc Bylaws Committee

At the last meeting of the semester, new Parliamentarian Matt Griffiths brought to the table a semester’s worth of work, a slew of amendments to the bylaws. Every section had changes, produced by the ad hoc Bylaws committee, formed solely to amend the bylaws so that they would not have to be amended again. Meeting every week for a month and then holding a marathon meeting on Friday April 16 2004, the committee made it through the entire Chapter Bylaws.

The Chapter Bylaws and Operating policy were originally written by Stella Maher the summer after the creation of the Delta Chi Chapter of Phi Sigma Pi at Lehigh University based on other chapter’s bylaws. As a result, they needed changing in order to comply with the nuances of the Delta Chi Chapter.

In order to bring it to the chapter so as not to waste hours upon hours of precious time, Matt Griffiths proposed to submit all of the amendments as a whole, and then start a discussion board regarding it. All of the amendments that were addressed on the discussion board would be voted on separately.

Surprisingly the method worked. All of the amendments passed as a whole, with the exception of the two amendments discussed, the paying of local dues by locally inactive brothers, and the time span for nominations and voting for new officers.

As a result of much debate and in addition to many friendly amendments, the chapter decided that locally inactive brothers would not have to pay local dues, and that nominations for a position would be held one week before elections, unless it is deemed an emergency by an unanimous vote by E-board, in which case the nominations and elections could be held in one night.

This chapter meeting proved impressive, as many Brothers spoke their beliefs and all using Robert’s rules, perhaps it was the food provided by the chapter for the meeting. With the changes to the bylaws, many actions of the chapter would now by covered in the bylaws, and meetings in general could run more smoothly with an easy reference for the rules. Next semester, the chapter has aspirations to amend the Operating Policy into a useful document.

Delta Chi Learns a lot at Grand Chapter

Delta Chi Brothers enjoying catered lunch.

Brothers going out to Fridays to eat.

The Grand Chapter for summer 2004 in Richmond Virginia was a paradigm shift in the way the Delta Chi Chapter operated. Before GC ’04, none of the executive board had experienced the fraternity on either a national or even regional level. The result was (in retrospect) that the chapter acted in a fairly isolationist way. And while the chapter brotherhood was more unified than ever, it lacked the frame of reference which gives Phi Sigma Pi its full dimension.

GC ’04 changed all of that. With nonstop camaraderie and the feeling of unconditional brotherhood, the members of Delta Chi attending found themselves in a hotel full of brothers with their honest best intentions for the national fraternity, their regions, and their chapters in mind. As President of Delta Chi, Angela Rizzo was elected the chapter’s delegate, and Brian Dunst (chapter VP) the Grand Chapter Alternate Delegate. Before attending Grand Chapter, Delta Chi reviewed, pro/conned and voted upon each proposed amendment to the Constitution and National Operating Policy. The results of the vote and minutes for pro/con were kept, and used as a reference during actual Grand Chapter Business. Stella Maher, Jeff Samuels, and A.J. Miceli also attended GC.

As an auxiliary social project, the national staff organized a game of “Gotcha” as a sort of unifying ice-breaker promoting getting to know Brothers of the national fraternity. Every Brother registered had another Brother as a target, and a plastic spoon. The game objectives were simple: every brother uses his/her spoon to ‘stab’ each other in the back, once ‘stabbed’ that person is ‘dead’ and out of the game and his/her target given to the attacker. In the end, there should be only one left alive. Through much paranoia and shadiness, Brian Dunst ended up being the ultimate winner. However, he had to stab A.J. Miceli his own Delta Chi Brother in the back with A.J.’s own spoon in order to accomplish the task.

Returning from Grand Chapter 2004 with a newfound feeling of brotherhood, Angela, Brian, and A.J. Miceli, (joined by Stella Maher, and Jeff Samuels) had many new and exciting ideas for Delta Chi. One of the major goals for the upcoming semesters was to increase inter-chapter relations with the East Region. In the end, Grand Chapter 2004 served as a revitalizing experience, giving a new vision and direction to the leaders of Delta Chi.

Brothers Add Some Fun to Chapter Meetings

On September 13, 2004 Nick Moukhine motioned to acquire a PSP hat that would be worn by the Parliamentarian at all chapter meetings. This hat would also be used by the Parliamentarian to collect the slips of paper after voting. Nick also included that the hat would be singed by each Parliamentarian and passed down to each successive Parliamentarian. The Parliamentarian's hat would also be the only hat allowed to be worn during chapter meetings. Nick left the kind of hat and it’s name up to the chapter. The chapter passed the motion at this meeting.

At the following meeting the chapter narrowed hat selections down to a cowboy hat, beanie and sombrero with the cowboy hat winning the majority of the vote. The name of the hat was also voted on with “The Enforcer” being the favorite over “Bob,” “The Hat,” and “Mr. Hat.” Since the chosen hat was a cowboy hat it was decided that Parliamentarian Brian Dunst also had to pass down his Sheriff badge to the next Parliamentarian. Brian Dunst asked the chapter if any Brother had a hat from the Wild Wild West Party, held earlier in the semester, that they would like to donate to the Parliamentarian. A.J. Miceli generously gave his cowboy hat to Brian.

After the chapter meeting on September 13th, the Executive Board planned a scholarship event for the brotherhood in the form of a local history skit. The skit told the story of the founding of the Delta Chi Chapter up until 2003 in an over exaggerated parody. Since many of the older brothers knew the “characters” in this skit they found it hysterical. For the members of recently inducted classes the skit was enjoyable and an eye opener into how far the chapter has come as a while. The skit included major events from the induction of the Delta Chi: Alpha Class through the Delta Chi: Delta Class. The “acting” done by the E-Board Members kept the brotherhood laughing throughout the skit. The E-Board actors made it clear that the skit was all in good humor and said they hoped that the future Executive Board would one day create a skit of the history of the chapter from 2003 to present and that their characters would be just as hilariously exaggerated.

At a chapter meeting on September 27th Nick Moukhine struck again, proposing another motion to liven up chapter meetings. Nick motioned that an E-Board member would have to tell a funny story at each chapter meeting. After being friendly amended to open up the story telling to the entire brotherhood, each person being chosen at random the meeting before, the brotherhood passed this motion and Reid Gronostajski was chosen to tell the first funny story at the next chapter meeting.

The Parliamentarian still wears "The Enforcer" during chapter meetings, and a Brother is always chosen for funny story at each chapter meeting.

Delta Chi Forges Inter-Chapter Relationships

Delta Chi and Gamma Pi Brothers posing with a famous Jeep.

Delta Chi and Gamma Pi Brothers during the Delta Chi Semi-formal.

One of the goals of President Angela Rizzo was to create a inter-chapter relationships, an aspect of fellowship that the Delta Chi Chapter was currently lacking. She got in touch with the President of Kutztown University’s chapter(Epsilon Alpha Chapter) which was located near Lehigh. A lunch was set up at the Olive Garden on a Saturday afternoon in October. The members of the Executive Board were very excited to meet members of the Epsilon Alpha Chapter. The brothers spoke about their respective chapters and learned that though similar in some respects the brothers that made up each chapter were extremely different. After an enjoyable lunch contact information was shared and the possibility of a joint event was discussed.

In another attempt by the Delta Chi Chapter to improve its inter-chapter relations, Spencer McCord, Brandon Fishman, Angela Rizzo, Rachel Mandeville, Alon Abramson, and Ryan Botzler drove down to Gamma Pi on Friday, October 17 2004 for their semi-formal. The group was split into pairs and each pair was hosted by a Gamma Pi brother.

That night, the Gamma Pi Chapter sponsored an off-campus toga party in which the Delta Chi brothers eagerly attended with their hosts. The next day, the Gamma Pi brothers took the Delta Chi gang on a tour of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The group had a bonding experience at lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen and then took a Water Taxi tour of the harbor. The highlight of the afternoon was the taking of a group picture by Jeep photographers around and on top of the Jeep used in a popular television commercial.

At, the semi-formal that night, Ryan stole the show through his smooth actions and dance techniques with three of Gamma Pi’s female brothers who, by the end of the night, were on the verge of fighting over him.

Due to the amazingly fun time the chapters had hanging out with one another the Delta Chi Chapter invited Gamma Pi to attend their semi-formal and many of the them excitedly agreed.

Founder's Day

The Delta Chi Chapter gathered on December 3rd to celebrate the founding of the chapter three years ago. Not only was the chapter celebrating Founder’s Day, but also the end of classes and the end of another semester. Brothers formed into groups and each cooked its own dish for the potluck dinner. The dishes ranged from pasta and salad to macaroni and cheese to chicken pot pie. Everyone agreed that the food was delicious as they sat around Sayre Lodge enjoying the company of their brothers. After dinner was complete the brotherhood bundled up and moved outside for the officer transition ceremony.

To conclude the night the Awards and Scholarship Committee Chair Susie Whitten gave out end of the semester awards. Angela Rizzo won Most Dedicated and Most Valuable Brother, and Spencer McCord received Most Events Attended. The tripod based awards went to Laura Petrini for Service, Lauren Halgash for Fellowship and Brian Dunst for Scholarship. Nick Moukhine was named Frat Clown and was part of the Cutest Couple with Jackie Lanzon. And finally, Ryan Botlzer won the “Most Come out of Their Shell” Award complete with a picture of a turtle on the award.

2005

Delta Chi Sends Two Brothers to the First Ever SPARK

The SPARK Leadership Academy’s pilot program was hosted at Bradford Woods, Indiana University’s Outdoor Center. The Delta Chi Chapter sent two participants, Jeff Samuels and Stella Maher. Arriving at Bradford Woods on Friday, March 18th 2005, everyone was separated into gold and purple groups where they began their leadership training. The gold group was led by National Secretary Brittany Bodart and the purple group was lead by Senior Vice President Lisa Ambrosia Howard. The first night of the program all the participants discussed what it means to be a leader and what they felt the qualities of a leader are. They also spent some time around a campfire getting to know each other. During the first full day of training everyone spent most of the time outside utilizing ropes courses and other team-building activities. In the late afternoon the two groups came back together to perform a large group exercise. After the exercise participants were separated back into their purple and gold groups to put together skits about their experiences over the weekend. The skits were performed for everyone in the meeting hall and the last night was spent together at Bradford Woods. Early Sunday morning everyone began to go their separate ways back to their schools and to tell their chapters of the wonderful experience that was SPARK Leadership Academy.

More ICR Events for Delta Chi

Delta Chi Chapter during the volleyball tournament.

The Original Delta Chi Stallions.

In the spring of 2005, the Delta Chi Chapter of Phi Sigma Pi began their unveiling in the ICR community with attending both Omicron Chapter Jell-O Wrestling and Alpha Epsilon's date party, sending a record seven brothers to each. Both these events signaled the beginning of a strong semester of ICR attendance. The weekend at Omicron started with some ice breakers, including the PSP favorite Never Have I Ever where some interesting and scandalous facts about our Omicron brothers were divulged. The following day, Brandon Fishman made his debut as the first Delta Chi ICR Jell-O wrestler while wearing a youth small spandex GI Joe costume and emerged victorious! Afterwards, the Delta Chi brothers did some high quality bonding with their Omicron brothers at the after party bash. This event marked the kindling of wide spread inter-chapter interest and the beginning of consistent attendance at ICR events for the chapter.

The Alpha Epsilon Chapter Hawaiian themed date party was an exciting evening of dancing, and bonding with our brothers from Westchester. Overall, the evening was wonderful, and the Delta Chi Chapter won a sand and sea shell filled martini glass award for having the most inter-chapter brothers in attendance. Overall, the event led to an improved relationship with the Alpha Epsilon Chapter and continued the semester’s ICR momentum that would proceed into the following weekend’s Alpha Beta Volleyball extravaganza.

On April 8 2005, a group of 22 brothers and initiates all drove down to the University of Maryland to attend the annual Alpha Beta Chapter Volleyball tournament. On Friday night, the brothers and initiates stayed at Alpha Beta brothers' houses on campus, and Saturday night they were all in a nearby hotel. On Friday night, a highlighter party was held at a nearby club. Brothers and initiates danced, mingled, and talked with brothers and initiates from the other chapters that were there. One of the volleyball teams that Delta Chi was entering into the tournament, called the Stallions, made t-shirts sporting their logo (the popular Ferrari symbol) and their slogan, "Let's Ride" on the back. Their goal was to get everyone to know who the Stallions and Delta Chi were before the tournament started on Saturday.

On Saturday, the tournament started around 11:00am. There were four teams from our chapter competing, and everyone cheered for the team playing. Although they put in a great effort, two of the teams got knocked out in the first round. However, the other two teams, including the Stallions, who were dressed in matching uniforms of yellow shorts, black and white t-shirts with their logo, and bandanas, made it further into the tournament. The Stallions made it to the semi-finals, while the other remaining team was defeated in a close match in the second round. Even with the help of the screaming Delta Chi fans, obnoxious cheers before the game, and high intensity, the Stallions were unable to defeat their opponent and finished the tournament tied for third place out of 32 teams. Everyone was disappointed with the loss, but had a great time playing and cheering all day and went home with smiles on their faces.

Saturday night at the hotel was the location of the superhero dance party. Everyone dressed up in costumes, ranging from Ninja Turtles to the Ambiguously Gay Duo. The party was a hit and everyone had a great time there. Awards were given out at the end of the night for Best Costume, Most Spirited Chapter, and others. To no surprise to the Delta Chi attendees, who were hoping for the award, our chapter took home the Most Spirited Chapter award for our cheering, uniforms, and good sportsmanship at the volleyball tournament earlier in the day. After the dance party was over, brothers and initiates hung out at the hotel with brothers from other chapters. Everyone that attended Alpha Beta Volleyball would agree that it was a fabulous time and look forward to going back next year, next time to win the tournament!

Brothers showing the Most Spirited Chapter Award

Requirements Committee Looks to Make Changes

The requirements committee was created in order to try and change the way our event requirements (and their punishments) worked. The committee started out by looking at the old requirements and deciding what we liked and what we didn’t like about them. We then continued by looking into other ways we could structure the requirements and motivator systems. The first amendment that was proposed was to give people another option when they did not fulfill their event requirements. It was called “miss an event, plan an event” and it gives the person an option to plan an event of the type that was missed instead of paying a motivator. This was to make it so they would have the opportunity to plan an event they would rather go to the following semester. This amendment passed and is now part of our operating policies. The second amendment that was proposed was to make it so event attendance was taken based on a point system (this amendment amended both the bylaws and the operating policies). The reason for this new system was because people would go to long events, like Habitat for Humanity, and get the same amount of credit as someone who donated a pack of pens for a drive. In order to make this fair, a person needed six credits in each area of the required events. They would then be awarded one point for drives or events less than one hour, two points for parties or events between one and three hours, and three points for events greater in length than three hours. This amendment failed when it was brought up to the chapter so it will be up to brothers in the future to try and resolve these issues. The following semester a similar amendment was brought up having more of the brothers input. The amendment passed with the following requirements 4 Service, Social, Scholarship, and Elective credits, 4 Rush events and 2 fundraising events where a credit is defined as 1 hours of an event.

Delta Chi Has Large Presence at Grand Chapter

The Delta Chi Chapter has been working hard for the past year to increase its national presence, in part by attending more national and inter-chapter events. This summer, seven Delta Chi brothers attended Grand Chapter, including delegate Matt Lapovsky, alternate Ryan Templin, new brother David Freund, and alumni Rachel Flink, Stella Maher, Angela Rizzo and Jeff Samuels. For many, it was their first Grand Chapter or even first national event. Grand Chapter was held in Pittsburgh, PA from August 4-7. It was a weekend filled with Robert’s Rules, legislative debate, and of course, meeting with brothers from across the country.

Delta Chi Goes to Philly for Ultimate Frisbee

Eight brothers made the trip down to Philadelphia on September 17 2005 to play in an ultimate frisbee tournament hosted by Drexel (Gamma Zi), Temple (Alpha Lambda), and West Chester (Alpha Epsilon). The tournament was a fundraiser for Hopes and Dreams, a walk for Autism. There were a total of four teams who played the round robin, double elimination tournament. Delta Chi took the first two games with ease and made it to the finals. Although they lost the first game, since they needed two losses to be out, they played an additional game and won with only a few seconds remaining.

After the tournament, everyone went to Pat’s for some original Philly Cheese steaks, compliments of Pat’s, followed by the Delta Chi Brothers walking around South Street for a few hours. Overall, the weekend was a great time, as usual.

The winning Delta Chi Ultimate Team.

Brothers at Pat's for some Cheese steaks.

Parent's Weekend Tailgates

Playing frisbee at tailgates.

The Public Relations Committee strove this semester to involve all the members of the Delta Chi family, including brothers’ parents and siblings. The first Phi Sigma Pi Parents’ Weekend Tailgate was held on November 5, 2005. Planning for the tailgate began at the very start of the semester, as invitation designs were brainstormed and addresses compiled. The brotherhood voted on an invitation which the PR committee then mailed to every parent. The committee spent the remainder of the months prior to the tailgate securing a location, supplies, and of course, tons of food. On the day of the tailgate, over twenty-five brothers, a few initiates, and their families gathered at Goodman Campus for a morning filled with meet and greet chatter and lots of grilling. Brothers talked with each others’ parents, ate food, and some played Frisbee. The event was a great success, introducing family members to the brotherhood and to the Lehigh tradition of tailgating.

Following the tailgate, most families attended the football game where they watched Lehigh achieve an astounding victory over Georgetown, 46-14. Delta Chi has kept this as a yearly tradition every parents weekend.

Clarence O. Williams Most Improved New Chapter Award

The Delta Chi Chapter also sent representatives to National Convention, held in Atlanta, Georgia, from November 11-13. Attendees were undergrad Jeremy Tallman and alumna Rachel Flink. Unfortunately, circumstances arose at the last minute that prevented other alumni from attending as planned. Friday night included a bazaar, an inflatable obstacle course, an alumni reception, and an official welcome. Saturday’s activities kicked off with breakfast, followed by an assortment of workshops and other official activities.

The highlight of the event was Saturday night’s formal awards dinner and banquet, followed by an after hours poker tournament and dance party. It was at this awards ceremony that the Delta Chi Chapter received the award for Most Improved New Chapter, a long anticipated honor. Both attendees had a fantastic time, meeting many other brothers and making connections from all over the country.

Rachel Flink and Jeremy Tallman at Convention.

Rachel and Jeremy accepting the Clarence O. Williams Most Improved New Chapter Award.

2006

Main Article: 2006 Delta Chi Chapter History

2007

Main Article: 2007 Delta Chi Chapter History

2008

The Active Chapter

The current chapter has about 60 active brothers.

Current Executive Board

President - Andrew Kump
Vice President - Garrett Wadsworth
Recording Secretary - Sarah Horst
Corresponding Secretary - Katelyn Reef
Treasurer - Jon Lui
Parliamentarian - Brian Lindeboom
Historian - Jackie Belon
Initiate Adviser - Andi Howard
Rush Adviser - Amy Pakett

Current Committee Chairs

Social Committee - Ashley Kamauf
Service Committee - Justina Grabowski
Awards and Scholarship Committee - Julie Frehafer
Fundraising Committee - Bill Baker
PR Committee - Kristen Giglia
Alumni Committee - Therese Quinn
ICR - Justin Capablo
Regional Delegate - John Gilpatrick
Webmaster - Sarah Oberrender

Past Chapter Presidents

Initiate Classes

Main Article: List of Delta Chi Chapter Initiate Classes

Chapter Events & Activities

Founder's Weekend

A required event in the chapter’s Operating Policy, Founder’s day is a very important event, and so planning for it began on November 17 2003, when the chapter was asked by Historian Rachel Mandeville if they would prefer to order food, or to have a potluck dinner for the celebration. The chapter decided to have a potluck, and so the list began to organize what everyone would make.

The dinner would be held at Sayre Lodge on December 3, 2003, the second birthday of the chapter. As it was a required event, 95% of the chapter attended and everyone enjoyed themselves, and the food, which ranged from soup to meatloaf to cookies and much more.

While the chapter dined, Vice President Jessica Maurer awarded certificates to many Brothers. The following brothers received awards: Stella Maher, Most Devoted Brother; Craig Foo, Volunteerism Award; Angela Rizzo, Most Hardworking Brother; Brian Dunst, Eagle Scout Award; Laura Spessard, Best New Addition to E-Board; and Jessica Maurer, The Loud and Lovable Award.

Delta Chi has since continued the tradition of holding a potluck dinner on its Founders Day.

Kickball

Started in the fall of 2005, Delta Chi holds an annual kickball weekend. Brothers from nearby chapters come for the weekend events which include kickball and a service event.

Main Article: Delta Chi Chapter Kickball Tournament

Notable Alumni

Stella Maher (Α 2)

CSK 2004

Jeff Samuels (Β 42)

CSK 2006

Honorary Members

Rich Freed (37)
Ryan Marquiss (108)

Chapter Honors and Awards

National Awards

2005 Clarence O. Williams Most Improved New Chapter Award

University Awards

year AwardName
None to date

Chapter Awards

Main article: List of Delta Chi Chapter Internal Awards

Further Resources

Delta Chi Chapter

Contents